When preparing for the dead, may we peep into the future? In the broader geography of the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean, we cook our coffee in the briki or cezve. Every region has its own variation, some heat up the water before adding the powder, some add spices, some make it thick, others thinner. And every person has their own variation as well. Coffee is something as personal as communal. Apart from the daily morning and evening consumption, we also share two uses of the coffee that are central of interest here: the coffee cup reading and the tradition of coffee drinking in funerals and memorials. Imagination and memory, future and past, the association with grief; and the unique timelines traced in each cup. I think that it has been with me for years, the memory of my grandmothers, my mother’s morning ritual of cooking a light Greek coffee in a big cup. The familiarity of the Kafenio. And most importantly, community dynamics; sharing others, participating. Here I aspired to create a meeting space with people, artists or not, with whom I have met over the years and share the subtle fascination about this type of coffee and its rituals. Acknowledging the blood, oppression and displacement behind and around the product. The Cafe Imperial.

Acknowledgements: a few words about café Imperial

by Eirini Sourgiadaki

In the broader geography of the Balkans and Eastern Mediterranean, we cook our coffee in the briki or cezve. Every region has its own variation, some heat up the water before adding the powder, some add spices, some make it thick, others thinner. And every person has their own variation as well. Coffee is something as personal as communal. Apart from the daily morning and evening consumption, we also share two uses of the coffee that are central of interest here: the coffee cup reading and the tradition of coffee drinking in funerals and memorials. Imagination and memory, future and past, the association with grief; and the unique timelines traced in each cup.

In winter 2025 festival director Gunda Zaeb, asked whether I would be interested in participating to the final edition of About us! a biannual transcultural festival in Zurich to take place the following summer. Having already experienced the open and inviting character of the festival, the idea of coffee gatherings, came up almost automatically. I think that it has been with me for years, the memory of my grandmothers, my mother’s morning ritual of cooking a light Greek coffee in a big cup. The familiarity of the Kafenio. And most importantly, community dynamics; other people, artists or not, with whom have met over the years and share the subtle fascination about this type of coffee and its rituals, and who generously worked for this publication: Katerina who takes photos of her Greek coffee cup every morning for years now. Milenko who has been performing Bosnian coffee cup readings in his interdisciplinary artistic practice, Nistiman who has been re-enacting ceremonies of the Kurdish coffee-making during his transdisciplinarity studies, Seba who works with Lebanese coffee rituals in her performance practice, Souad, who tells me stories about fortune-telling and hospitality in the Lebanese tradition and Rada who remembers her grandma’s divination rituals in Bulgaria. Our different perspectives are put here together, in somewhat messy ways, hopefully leaving space for dreaming, noticing and connecting.

I feel grateful for all the encounters around cafè Imperial, for all the acts of offering, allowing and receiving, and the participation to each other’s memory and imagination. Thank you.

(with the support of About Us! 2025 Zürich Interkulturell)

Tip

Tip

Acknowledgements: a few words about café Imperial